Right-wing nonsense watch #4984390: The Case of Michael Rubin

To wit:

Terrorists kidnapped scores of Iraqis from a higher education research institute. It says a lot that the Western media, Europe, and the Arab League don't react with the same outrage that they did over the Abu Ghraib scandal.

Are you kidding me Michael? Is this even in need of explanation? How about because we hold ourselves to a higher standard than the terrorist thugs who carried out this heinous act! If a condemnation is what you want than here it is: I condemn today's barbarous kidnapping of nearly 150 employees of a government research institute in Baghdad. Furthermore, I condemn the thousands of other unspeakable crimes that have been perpetrated against innocent Iraqi civilians by terrorists, insurgents, and criminals in the past three years. I hope the guilty parties - whoever they may be - are killed or captured as soon as possible. But I also condemn the sadistic treatment of prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison. Now, were the crimes committed by a small number of American servicemen and women of the same magnitude as those committed by terrorists who wantonly kill innocent civilians? Of course not. At the same time, we shouldn't be judging the "rightness" or "wrongness" of our actions against the despicable standard set by the actions of terrorists. Saying that our transgressions pale in comparison to the transgressions perpetrated by terrorists isn't saying anything at all. Our actions should be judged in terms of how they comport with the principles of liberty and equality at the heart of our own political system. Given that U.S conduct at Abu Ghraib flew in the face of these principles, what happened there deserved evey second of media attention that it received.

Posted by Kingston

UPDATE: Over at the Plank, Jason Zengerle points out that "the Holy Trinity of the "liberal media"--The New York Times, CNN, and NPR--have all devoted significant time and attention to the [kidnapping] this morning. The Times and CNN both currently have it at the top of their websites, and NPR's "Morning Edition" did multiple segments on it." In sum, yet further evidence that Rubin is totally off his rocker.